Between 1929-39, four of NewYork’s most iconic museums emerged in Manhattan: the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney, the Frick Collection, and the Guggenheim. All world famous institutions. But their founders, all women, are relatively unknown. This lecture will dive into the lives and motivations of these women and try to shine a light on these early 20th century trailblazers!

At the beginning of the 20th century life was slowly changing for many women. Embracing their agency, many women leveraged their social and political acumen to build cultural capital. These women supported avant-garde artists and built collections outside of the mainstream. It is thanks to these early adaptors and consumers of a new type of art that their collections would become the “caretakers” of modern art, making New York the new frontier for experimentation, development and patronage.